Six years
have elapsed since the Forget Me Not furnished the first model for a new class
of publications in this country; and during that period it has undeviatingly
pursued the even tenor of its way. Its conductors, without advancing any
lofty pretensions to exaggerate its merits, or descending to choleric
vituperation against those who have followed in their footsteps, have been
content to secure for it those advantages which were to be derived from the
kindness and talents of their numerous literary contributors, the abilities of
the artists employed in its embellishment, and the exercise of their own
judgment and industry, which have been extended to matters usually considered of
minor importance, and abandoned to the care of subordinate agents. The
pains bestowed, for example, on the typographical department, have prevented
those inaccuracies and that waste of space so conspicuous in some other works of
this kind, and ranked the

iv
PREFACE.

later volumes of the Forget Me Not among the most correct
products that have ever issued from the press. At the same time, a jealous
vigilance in the selection of contributions, and in the removal of blemishes in
style and language, has been exerted with such success that public opinion has
been induced to assign to this Miscellany a decided literary pre-eminence above
all its competitors.

Strong as may have been the claims of the work in former years to this
distinction, the Editor cannot forbear expressing his conviction that they are
surpassed by those which the present volume prefers; and he entertains, without
fear of disappointment, the sanguine anticipation that the verdict of the Public
will confirm his opinion. A glance, indeed, at its contents--comprising
more than one hundred poems and
prose contributions, the authors of many of which rank among the most eminent of
our living writers, and fourteen
line engravings, finished with the utmost care by the first artists, from
original designs by distinguished painters--can scarcely fail to produce an
impression of its superiority: and such a display may well justify a
feeling of exultation which the Editor is disposed to indulge, in presenting to
the world this portion of a work, which has been received from its first
establishment with the most unequivocal marks of

PREFACE.
v

favour. That feeling,
however, is not unmingled with regret, on account of the absolute necessity
under which he has found himself to omit a great number of excellent
compositions; and he begs the writers to attribute their exclusion solely to the
impossibility of crowding materials sufficient to fill two or three volumes into
the compass of one. Many of these articles he hopes still to be able to
introduce.

The Publisher and Editor join to express their grateful acknowledgements to all
those by whose literary aid they have been favoured, as well as to the artists
to whose talents this volume owes its embellishments; and to George Morant, Esq.
their particular thanks are due, for the loan of
Prout's admirable picture of
Vicenza, which has furnished the subject of one of the engravings.

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